This invention concerns in general an adaptor for attaching auxiliary cleaning attachments to a vacuum cleaner, as well as a vacuum cleaner constructed for use with such an adaptor. The invention more particularly concerns an adaptor having camming structure for automatically actuating one or more various mechanisms of a vacuum cleaner upon securement of the adaptor in an auxiliary suction port of the cleaner.
In general, it is well known for vacuum cleaners which have a main suction nozzle or port to be constructed for alternative use with auxiliary cleaning attachments. Auxiliary attachments, such as flexible hoses with various cleaning heads attached thereto, may be secured in auxiliary suction ports incorporated into a variety of styles of vacuum cleaners. Upright and canister styles are several examples of such vacuum cleaners.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,246 (Duncan et al., commonly assigned with the present application) discloses an example of a convertible vacuum cleaner adapted for receiving an auxiliary cleaning attachment adaptor 112 in an auxiliary suction opening 110 thereof. The vacuum cleaner is convertible between upright and hand-held styles, with auxiliary cleaning available in either such configuration. The insertable adaptor of the above-mentioned Duncan et al. patent has a flange which, when fully inserted into opening 110, blocks off suction from a main nozzle so that air will be drawn through a flexible hose associated with the adaptor.
While the Duncan et al. adaptor more particularly concerns the diversion of suction power into an associated auxiliary cleaning attachment, some vacuum cleaners generally address other facets of adapting to auxiliary cleaning modes. For example, particularly in permanent or convertible upright style vacuum cleaners, it is well known to provide a main suction nozzle on a lower side of the vacuum cleaner which faces a floor surface on which the vacuum cleaner is supported (and which floor surface is to be cleaned). It is also known to incorporate a rotating beater bar brush in or adjacent to such main suction nozzle. During auxiliary cleaning with such vacuum cleaners incorporating rotating brushes, often the brush is either allowed to continue rotating or is variously disengaged from the floor surface so as to better accommodate the auxiliary cleaning mode.
Disengagement may be accomplished by variously stopping rotation of the brush or generally by raising a portion of the vacuum cleaner chassis so that the brush no longer contacts the supporting floor surface even while the brush may continue to rotate. Such chassis raising is typically accomplished by movement of the vacuum cleaner handle into a particular placement (such as a full upright position thereof), which through cables and linkages pulls a portion of the chassis upward from the supporting floor surface.
It is also generally known to adjust the desired height of a main suction nozzle and/or rotating beater bar brush relative a floor surface to be cleaned. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,342,132 (issued to Fromknecht, commonly assigned with the present application) and 2,244,132 (issued to Taylor) disclose examples of such vacuum cleaners for adjusting the cleaner head height for various carpet pile thicknesses. Neither such patent is particularly concerned however with adjusting chassis height for auxiliary cleaning modes, or so that a rotating beater bar brush is fully disengaged from a floor surface for continued rotation of such bar brush during auxiliary cleaning operation.